Category: 2. Middle East

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said yesterday that he will step up pressure against Israel over its war on Gaza among other initiatives during his government’s last nine months in office, Reuters reports.

In a wide-ranging three-hour speech from Congress in the coastal city of Valparaiso that marked his last annual address, Boric also discussed crime, infrastructure, the economy and abortion rights.

In comments that sparked the largest amount of cheers and…

More than a million Muslim pilgrims poured into the holy city of Mecca ahead of the annual hajj, with authorities vowing to hold a safer pilgrimage amid searing desert heat and a massive crackdown on illegal visitors.

Officials have beefed up heat mitigation measures hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s hajj, which saw 1,301 pilgrims die as temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 Fahrenheit).

Temperatures were forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius this week as one of the world’s…

More than a million Muslim pilgrims poured into the holy city of Mecca ahead of the annual hajj, with authorities vowing to hold a safer pilgrimage amid searing desert heat and a massive crackdown on illegal visitors.

Temperatures were forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week as one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings officially commences on Wednesday.

The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with…

Several people suffered burns and other injuries Sunday in the US state of Colorado in what the FBI called a “targeted terror attack” against demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Police in the city of Boulder said a man was taken into custody. They were more cautious in presuming a possible motive for the attack, which multiple sources said was committed against members of the Jewish community during a peaceful gathering.

Local media cited eyewitnesses describing…

A man yelling “free Palestine” used incendiary devices to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday.

The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

He was booked into the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges, according to county records. His bond has been set at $10 million.

Police in the city…

A man yelling “Free Palestine” used a makeshift flamethrower to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday.

The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

Investigators said the man had been taken into custody, but provided no further details about him. Police in the city of Boulder were cautious in presuming a…

British foreign minister David Lammy said on Sunday that Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory of Western Sahara was the “most credible” solution to the decades-long dispute, reversing London’s long-standing position.

Western Sahara, a mineral-rich former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco but has been claimed in its entirety for decades by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is backed by Algeria.

Morocco has been campaigning for broad support for its autonomy plan…

The Barbados government is again being urged to sever diplomatic relations with Israel in protest of the killing of civilians in Gaza.

The appeal was made during a solidarity rally held outside the United States Embassy in Wildey, St Michael, on Saturday.

The demonstration, organised by a coalition of advocacy groups, also marked the fifth anniversary of the death of African American George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer in the United States.

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News Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

The West has already lost its credibility by giving Israel free rein, said Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement: “If we abandon Gaza … we kill our own credibility in the rest of the world,” Anadolu reports.

Albanese wrote on X on Saturday: “Tragically, it’s already done: the West has sacrificed its credibility…

Egypt unveiled plans on Sunday to build a desert city that will see about 7% of Egypt’s annual Nile River quota rerouted from fertile delta land to pass by upscale glass-fronted housing units and eventually a large agricultural project, Reuters reports.

Egypt, facing mounting water shortages, power constraints, and a deepening economic crisis, wants the development to help increase the value of state assets and boost land prices through “non-traditional,…